Iceman's Rant

"Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first".
- Ronald Reagan

Monday, June 27, 2005

The Flag Can Take The Heat...

Last week members of the House of Representatives passed a Constitutional amendment on flag burning. Once again these “leaders” of our legislative branch have gone overboard on an emotional issue and have not tended to the work we elected them to do. This just continues to happen over and over again. This “amendment" to the Constitution will not pass in the Senate and will never get ratified by the ¾’s of the states. Whenever one of these Congressional blowhards demands we amend the Constitution the media jumps all over it but never tells us that it would take years for it to get ratified, if ever. That would take all the starch out of the blowhard in Congress and his face time on the news channels. Once again more wasted time by our members of Congress.

This amendment plays on the same emotions as the desecration of the Koran did to Muslims in the Middle East. Mark Steyn of the Chicago Sun Times wrote a good piece on this topic. You can read it here. He writes, ''it's not possible to 'torture' an inanimate object. That alone is a perfectly good reason to object to a law forbidding the "desecration" of the flag. For my own part, I believe that, if someone wishes to burn a flag, he should be free to do so. In the same way, if Democrat senators want to make speeches comparing the U.S. military to Nazis and the Khmer Rouge, they should be free to do so. It's always useful to know what people really believe”.

Don’t get me wrong. I feel that burning an American flag, or any nation’s flag, is distasteful and wrong. The person burning deserves a punch in the mouth or a swift kick in the ass. I don’t feel they need to be arrested. Mark Steyn also writes, “Banning flag desecration flatters the desecrators and suggests that the flag of this great republic is a wee delicate bloom that has to be protected. It's not. It gets burned because it's strong. A flag has to be worth torching. When a flag gets burned, that's not a sign of its weakness but of its strength. If you can't stand the heat of your burning flag, get out of the superpower business. It's the left that believes the state can regulate everyone into thought-compliance. The right should understand that the battle of ideas is won out in the open”

Saturday, June 25, 2005

"Legal" Robbery...

This past week the United States Supreme Court made a terrible ruling. They ruled 5 to 4 in favor of eminent domain in a case that really expanded the definition of public use. Eminent domain is a legal principle that allows the government to take private property for a "public use," such as a school or roads and bridges, in exchange for just compensation. Local governments have increasingly expanded the scope of public use to include commercial entities such as shopping malls or independent retail stores. They do this because the tax revenue from a big box store will be much more than the property taxes of the existing homes. In theory these malls and big box stores increase available job in the area. This doesn’t stop at private homes, small businesses can be forced out under this ruling. 2 of the biggest offenders are Wal-Mart and Target stores. They present a plan to a city government and get the city councils to declare a section of the city to be a blight.

The case the court ruled on was based in New London Connecticut. The benefit of this ruling was the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. How does taking homes for use by a wealthy company like Pfizer fall into the category of public use?

Writing for the dissenters, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote that the court overstepped its authority. "The court today significantly expands the meaning of public use," O'Connor wrote. "It holds that the sovereign may take private property currently put to ordinary private use, and give it over for new, ordinary private use."

Where does it stop? This goes against all the principles of being an ownership society. Think we will hear a word out of our Congress? I doubt it…

Time To Be A Leader...

The other day I saw Vice President Dick Cheney being interviewed by Wolfe Blizter on CNN. He really made me feel good about the way things were going in this country and the war on terror. He spoke in a confident way that portrayed him as a leader. He didn’t beat around the bush and use a lot of metaphors. He was clear and to the point. I think most of us that watched the Vice Presidential debates last year so the way he was clear and concise. He clobbered John Edwards and showed him to be a real political lightweight. After that debate Edwards pretty much dropped out of the picture during the campaign.

We have not had a good speaker as President since Ronald Reagan, in my opinion. He was a man that spoke like a leader and people felt good about things. I feel that that is what people want and need in a leader.

I think its time the President Bush stop the nice homey approach with his public speaking. I for one get very tired of only seeing him in front of a group of supporters with some banner behind him. I am also growing wearing of the way he leans on the podium and speaks like he is family. I don’t want to hear that it’s a lot of hard work in Iraq. We all know that by now. He will be going on TV next week to address the country and what we need is a leader to speak to us, not our uncle. Be clear, decisive and honest about what you tell us. Don’t talk down to us, don’t try to be our best friend, don’t talk to us like we were at a picnic together. Speak to us as a leader Mr. President. Go back to being the leader that spoke to us from ground zero…

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia and now Guantanamo Bay Cuba...

It seems the Democrats new “cause de jour” is to try and get the terrorist holding facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba shut down. They aren’t saying what should happen to the enemy combatants or where they should be transferred. They have a whole group of them calling it a Gulag or likening Gitmo to a Nazi concentration camp. I wonder if you asked these “detainees” if they would rather be held under American custody or Iraqi or Saudi or Pakistani custody I have no doubt they would prefer to be in Cuba. They still have their fingers and hands. That might not be the case under some other countries custody. The claims of torture are absurd. Loud music and sleep deprivation are now torture? The Left plays along with this “desecrating of the Koran” nonsense as well. How many Korans have been blown to pieces by these terrorists in Iraq bombing a Mosque and no one says a thing about it then?

These men are eating Baked Tandouri Chicken Breast, Mustard-Dill Baked Fish, Lyonnaise Rice, and Fish Amandine while the soldiers guarding them are eating MREs. Something is very wrong about this. The United States has bent over backward to insure humane treatment of these prisoners. The Red Cross along with many other groups has had access to the facility to check on the conditions.

This is typical of the Democrats and the Left these days. They seem to think that all they have to do is say they are opposed to something that is good enough. They don’t offer any alternatives. They thin kif they say it enough it will become the truth. It makes perfect sense to keep this facility at Guantanamo Bay open. We can concentrate out information gathering experts in one location. We keep these men in an isolated location where they are safe from other prisoners as well as keeping the soldiers guarding them safe from some nut case driving a bomb loaded car into the prison. Its time for the Republican apologists to take a stand and tell these Democrats where to go…